Catheter sheath introducers are well known in the health care industry as a means of providing access to the circulatory system for a number of applications. In a now well know process, the catheter sheath introducer is placed in a desired blood vessel to facilitate various procedures. Among these medical procedures are mapping and ablation of the heart, balloon angioplasty and the like which require the manipulation and deflection of a long catheter through the circulatory system to reach the heart or other target sites within the patient's body. In some cases, the manipulation and deflection of the catheter are achieved by manipulation and deflection of the sheath introducer. And, if a catheter is not secured within the sheath introducer, it may move during manipulation of the sheath introducer making it difficult to accurately place and position the catheter's distal tip.
Sheath introducers have small parts and thus offer little space and surface on which to provide additional mechanism or means to lock the catheter relative to the sheath introducer. But, by locking the catheter in the introducer, the catheter can be more easily maneuvered in the heart chamber or elsewhere in the body via manipulation and deflection of the sheath introducer. Thus, it is desirable for an improved catheter sheath introducer that can readily lock and release a catheter without significantly increasing the bulk or size of the sheath introducer or interfering with the operation of the sheath introducer or the catheter extending therethough.